Pan-European MTF bond market launches

Pan-European fixed income multilateral trading facility (MTF) Galaxy has received regulatory approval from French regulator the Autorité des Marchés Financiers and consumer protection body the Autorité de ContrÃ´le Prudentiel to operate its MTF for European bonds.

The bond trading platform accepts only firm orders and aggregates them in a global order book with prices accessible to all participants. Post-trade information and transaction records are made available publicly.

Galaxy uses execution management technology provided by vendor TradingScreen; it is also equipped with a compliance monitoring system, designed to check trading activity in real-time to help safeguard against possible market distortions.

Clearing of securities traded on the platform is handled by clearing house LCH.Clearnet, with links to the International Central Security Depositories and European National Central Security Depositories for settlement and delivery.

Galaxy was created to improve efficiency, transparency and liquidity in the European fixed income market in line with recommendations made by the Cassiopeia Committee, a French government's economic ministry initiative that aimed to revitalise the corporate bonds market, which was hit hard by the recent financial crisis.